Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Morocco and from Milan.
But I was there.
I was there in 1970.
I was there at the first Onyeabor show in Enugu.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1966 to 1979.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Hong Kong and Columbus.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Seoul kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1965 at the first Beefheart practice in a loft in Lancaster.
I was working on the marimba sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Glenn Branca to the rock kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by New Age Steppers. All the underground hits.
All Nico tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Bobby Byrd record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal funk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '70s.
I hear you're buying a theremin and a clarinet and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Man Eating Sloth record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a chamberlin.
I hear that you and your band have sold your chamberlin and bought an oboe.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Oblivians,
CMW,
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
Swell Maps,
Public Enemy,
The Slits,
The Modern Lovers,
The Gladiators,
Y Pants,
Letta Mbulu,
The Young Rascals,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
The Gap Band,
Kings Of Tomorrow,
Leonard Cohen,
Crime,
Derrick Morgan,
Colin Newman,
Main Source,
Royal Trux,
Pere Ubu,
Bobby Sherman,
Yaz,
Terry Callier,
Vainqueur,
Mary Jane Girls,
Japan,
Notorious BIG live in Amsterdam,
The Cure,
Von Mondo,
Lalo Schifrin,
Dead Boys,
Bobby Hutcherson,
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
Crooked Eye,
Agent Orange,
June Days,
Country Joe & The Fish,
Ken Boothe,
Unwound,
Joy Division,
Half Japanese,
LL Cool J,
Coldchain, Rosco P., Featuring Pusha T from Clipse & Boo-Bonic,
Tears for Fears,
The Mighty Diamonds,
Kaleidoscope,
Arcadia,
Richard Hell and the Voidoids,
Todd Rundgren,
AZ,
Cheater Slicks,
Freddie Wadling,
Yellowson,
Pharoah Sanders,
Janne Schatter,
Sandy B,
Flipper,
Jacob Miller,
The Searchers,
Symarip, Symarip, Symarip, Symarip.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.